The Transformers is the name of a line of toys designed and produced by toy companies Takara in Japan, and Hasbro in the United States, from 1984 onward. A Transformer is a robot that is able to "transform," or reconstruct itself, into a common and innocuous form, such as a car, an aircraft, a device, or an animal. The taglines "More Than Meets The Eye" and "Robots In Disguise" reflect this ability.

The Transformers originally featured two main factions battling for control of their home planet, Cybertron. The heroic Autobots, known as Cybertrons in the Japanese version, were led by Optimus Prime, who was known in the Japanese version as Convoy, and their opponents, the Decepticons, called the Destrons in the Japanese version, were led by Megatron, later Galvatron, a pattern which has been repeated in nearly every subsequent series program. The Autobots were mainly cars in warm colors, while the Decepticons were planes in cool colors, with some exceptions.